Monday, February 2, 2015

Canada monitors 15 million file downloads a day: Report

The
information disclosed by the former US National Security Agency (NSA)
contractor, Edward Snowden, shows that Canada’s electronic spy agency
monitors file downloads all around the world.

According
to a joint report by CBC News and journalist Glenn Greenwald released
on Wednesday, Canada's Communications Security Establishment (CSE)
tracks and analyzes up to 15 million pictures, videos, music documents
and other files downloaded by the Internet users across the globe on a
daily basis.

The
CSE’s spying project called Leviathan tracks downloads from over 102
file-sharing websites, including such renowned sources as Rapidsahre,
Sendspace, and the now deactivated Megaupload.

"It's
really the first time that a story has been reported that involves
[CSE] as the lead agency in a program of pure mass surveillance," said
Greenwald, who also played a key role in publicizing Snowden’s
controversial information.

Analysts confirmed the validity and legitimacy of Greenwald’s report.

"Every
single thing that you do — in this case uploading/downloading files to
these sites — that act is being archived, collected and analyzed," said
Ron Deibert, an Internet security analyst, after observing Snowden’s
files on Canada’s cyber-sleuthing program.

The
CSE, for its part, defended Leviathan, claiming it is aimed at tracking
suspicious activities related to terrorism and extremism.

"CSE
is clearly mandated to collect foreign signals intelligence to protect
Canada and Canadians from a variety of threats to our national security,
including terrorism," said the agency's spokesman Andrew McLaughlin in
an email to CBC News.

Canada is a member of the intelligence-sharing network “Five Eyes” (FVEY) along with the US, UK, New Zealand, and Australia.

Snowden’s revelations showed that even the FVEY members engaged in spying on one another's citizens.

The
issues of digital surveillance and privacy protection have been in the
limelight since Snowden began leaking classified intelligence documents
in June 2013. He revealed that the NSA had been collecting the phone
records of millions of Americans and foreign nationals as well as
political leaders around the world.

Snowden’s leaks were mainly about the huge electronic surveillance programs by the NSA and its allies all around the world.

Following Snowden’s revelations, tech companies opted for encrypting their services to block government surveillance.

Moreover,
many countries, including Germany and Russia, turned to paper
communications in a bid to avoid detection. Other countries intensified
their own surveillance programs to outflank the US one or decided to
monitor the activities of the US tech companies operating in their
territories.